Households that have been on the same electricity plan for more than three years are paying on average $221 per year more than customers on new plans, the ACCC’s latest Electricity Market Inquiry report has revealed.
While the report shows that the number of customers on their retailer’s best plan has increased, millions of Australians are still paying more than they need to be.
The ACCC’s analysis shows that a household with average electricity usage that moved from a regulated safety net (default offer) plan to one of the many cheaper plans retailers offer to new and switching customers would save between about $100 and $250 per year, depending on the region they live in.
In New South Wales, an average household not on their retailer’s best plan could save $300 per year simply by asking their existing retailer to move them on to the cheapest available plan.
“Loyalty penalties are alive and well in the retail electricity market, so the very best thing people can do to save money is to switch plans – either moving to a cheaper plan offered by their existing retailer or changing retailers,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.
“Many households could effectively replicate the value of the recently ended government rebates by changing plans.
“Roughly every three months, retailers have to prominently disclose on the first page of electricity bills the potential savings for customers from changing to their cheapest plan. We would strongly encourage households to, at the very least, look at their electricity bill to see how much they could save”, Brakey said.
The report shows that 37 per cent or nearly 2.5 million customers are paying prices at or above the default offer. More than 400,000 of these customers are paying more than 10 per cent over the default offer.
Across all National Electricity Market regions, residential bills increased by 6 per cent from August 2024 to August 2025 (excluding government rebates).
New South Wales customers experienced the largest annual price increase at about 9 per cent. South East Queensland had the next largest price increase at about 4 per cent.
While acknowledging the complexity of electricity pricing structures and the retail electricity market more broadly, the report finds that the ‘Better Bills’ reforms have had a positive impact on consumers.
About 27 per cent of residential customers were on their retailer’s best plan at some point in 2024–25. This was higher than the 19 per cent of customers who were on their retailer’s best plan between January and August 2024. The ACCC also observed an increased proportion of customers on newer plans (those that are less than 1 year old); rising from 29 per cent in August 2024 to 42 per cent in August 2025.